Map Shows NATO Territory Losing GPS Amid Russia Electronic Warfare Drill

Global Positioning System (GPS) disturbances detected across NATO member Poland on Tuesday have sparked speculation of Russian involvement, following a similar incident in the region this month.

Polish news outlet Radio Zet portal reported "over northern and central Poland, the GPS signal was again jammed," with Warsaw, Łódź, Tricity and Olsztyn among cities affected and that Swedish military intelligence agency MUST was investigating the cause.

Other Polish news outlets reported disturbances and an interference map available on the gpsjam.org website showed the extent of GPS problems across much of Poland, with a high level of interference over Kaliningrad, the Russian enclave that borders the country.

"Russians tested EW in Kaliningrad, so almost half of Poland and the Suwalki corridor were left without GPS," said Jürgen Nauditt, who posts on X, formerly Twitter, about the war in Ukraine, referring to the strategically sensitive area between Belarus and Kaliningrad along the Polish-Lithuanian border.

Earlier in January, GPS jamming was detected in eastern and southeastern parts of NATO's newest member Finland, which Jukka Savolainen from the country's Hybrid Competence Center said may have been "intentionally caused or by-products" of Russia's activities.

While there is no proof of Moscow's involvement, the incident followed growing tensions between Finland and Russia due to the former's accession to the alliance and Helsinki's closer ties with the U.S. military.

Gpsjam.org organizer John Wiseman noted the significance of the Russian Ministry of Defense announcement of an electronic warfare (EW) exercise with the Baltic Fleet based in Kaliningrad in December, days before jamming around the region increased.

Wiseman has previously told Newsweek that the earlier outages were "plausibly within reach of Russian jammers, either in Kaliningrad or on ships in the Baltic Sea."

Markus Jonsson, an X user who writes about open-source intelligence, shared a map of disturbances on January 3, writing that a "Baltic jammer" was responsible and was based in Kaliningrad. Regarding the latest incident, Jonsson posted on Wednesday: "I think the Baltic Jammer started tonight 21:20 and that it ran on high effect for just a short while.

"Effects, by my metrics, are seen very far from suspected source in Kaliningrad. Much further than possible via radio-emission from one spot."

Pro-Ukrainian X account MAKS 23 also shared an image of the gpsjam.org map, saying that Russia's electronic warfare system in Kaliningrad and that "half of Poland and the Suwalki corrider were left without GPS," prompting security expert Giorgi Koberidze to write in the thread: "Russia is testing the West."

The post was shared by journalist Euan MacDonald, who wrote: "A Russian jammer in Kaliningrad can cause widespread disruption to GPS signals. In Ukraine, the Russians have been using GPS jamming to disrupt Western-made HIMARS, Excalibur and JDAM (Joint Direct Attack Munition) weapons."

"It appears they're testing it here for a potential future attack on Poland, Baltics," he added. Newsweek has contacted the Russian defense ministry for comment.

Uncommon Knowledge

Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.

Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.

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